Things to Write About

I refuse to call this "Wagner Family Update" because I think too many of you would know what kind of a post this was going to be.  Well, now you know anyway. :)

I find it really hard to blog about anything when big things are happening that I have yet to blog about. I am not a "must blog about EVERYTHING person", but this blog has been a great record keeper of my last 4+ years and I love that about it.

So what I am about to write is just the truth. I can't change it or change us or change the path God has us on or turn us into a family that we aren't. This is us...and these are the kinds of things that just happen...no matter how much we strive for "normal" and "settled" and probably a little too much of what we think others think we should be. I'm not going to call it "bad" or "horrible" or boo hoo about having it hard. And I really don't want pity or attention or a whole bunch of "Oh my gosh, can't you guys catch a break" kind of comments. In fact, to clarify: we are happy and have lots and lots of great things happening as well as some things that aren't so fun or great or all that lucky.

Rand's job. Let's start there, shall we? Rand really, really enjoys his job. He has worked there for about 16 months.  It isn't ideal, as he has to work quite a bit of overtime for us to be able to remain a one income family and still pay our bills. BUT, he has been so grateful to be able to basically get as much overtime as he wants, give or take (there are slow and busy times). His prayer for the last year and a half was simply to have favor at work. And God has more than answered that prayer. He has good relationships at work with his bosses and his co-workers. It's good.
About a month ago, however, we got word that the company was going to be switching to being a 24 hour facility no later than January which meant they would be adding a new shift...which meant that there would be no more overtime. There goes two-thirds of our pay check. There has been another open door in the job department, but it is only that so far (it will NOT require moving for those curious). We are praying hard for that open door to quickly transition into Rand's next venture and a new stability for our family. If there is one thing I've learned though, it's that God always provides and Rand always lands on his feet. I know we will be fine.

So moving on. On our camping trip we had some car trouble. On the way up we were overheating. Got to town, filled up on coolant and pretty much thought we were good to go. On the way home we were overheating again. The car went straight to the Nissan shop. They said we really needed a new radiator and a new thermostat and that it was going to be about $800 (at the time this sounded like a lot, but after everything that has transpired it doens't seem like that much). Ugh. Well we thought we ought to think about it because we know that in about 5 months we are going to need a new car (more about that later). They told us we would probably be fine driving it in town, but the long hauls weren't going to happen. Well that was fine with us. I don't go far anyway...and most of the time I'm home. Well it just wasn't running very good. We test drove a new car while we were there...thought about trading it in...decided on no (we are trying HARD not to borrow or go into debt for ANYTHING and it just didn't feel like the right thing to do). So I was driving the car to the store and it started overheating again and it was running real rough. I turned around and went home instead. Then, Rand and I were headed to the home school convention in it last weekend and basically didn't make it there. We had the car towed to our mechanic (not the Nissan place) and he told us we needed a new engine.....and that there weren't any engines in all of Arizona OR California, AND it was going to cost around $4,500 if that was all that needed replacing, AND he suggested we donate it to charity. WHAT??!!!! Well, it's over. It's done. Our family car is officially junked. So, (again, if you know us) we are down to Rand's trusty Snowball.
Side note: When I first met Rand I thought, 'what is that big (he was really muscly) guy doing driving that ridiculous little car?? And HOW on earth does that little thing actually have 4 doors?' We paid it off right after we got married and I prayed that soon we could move on to something else. That darn car is like the energizer bunny. It.Will.Not.Die! And it has been such a blessing. Granted I hate driving it and it is really on its last leg, and we really don't like putting our children in it, because it just doesn't seem safe, but I digress.
Rand's car is sounding bad. About a month ago one of his tires blew up in the driveway (Thank you LORD that didn't happen on the freeway, just moments before). We seriously considered selling it because it's about time. Not sure we want to put any money into it for tires and belts and whatever else it might need, it's just been sitting there. Believe it or not we've had about 4 different people knock on our door and ask if they can buy it. Fortunately, we haven't done that. For now, (as it has been in the past several times) it is our only car...assuming we can spend a little and get it fixed up and running.

So, as they say, when it rains it pours.

If you have managed to read all the way to this point (and you don't already know) you deserve to know that we are expecting baby #4 in January. Baby #4 is a whole other post, but it adds another element to our car dilemma (and job crisis), don't you think? Our family of 5 car wasn't going to fit us for long anyway, but we really weren't expecting it to get totally ruined either.

That's it (I think)! Now that I got that off my chest maybe I can move on to other things. Seriously, I've only cried about the car a hand full of times and the rest of the time I have a pretty good attitude about it. I know we are blessed. Losing our car is not the worst thing that could happen. It is inconvenient, yes, but we just don't want to take on a car payment (especially now with the job thing) ever if we can help it. And that requires us to live a little differently than maybe a lot of people would. I have no idea how this is going to work. Stay tuned, we'll find out together!